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Saturday, February 18, 2017

Yes Craig Douglas is one of thoseinstructors who will actually demonstrate how its done.

ShivWorks AMIS Armed Movement in Structures Training

… I should have shot Rob

Before I get into why I and others should have shot Rob, the context of the ShivWorks AMIS Amed Movement in Structures training needs to be established. My beautiful wife and I are always looking for training to add to our skill set and we both get extra excited when we are actually able to train together. A few months ago the head of our armed church security team sent out a quick note that a sibling church within our security coalition network was hosting the AMIS class. As anyone should be, I was a little skeptical to out of pocket $450 cost per person for a two-day airsoft based class. We sent a check in anyway without much research based on the enthusiastic recommendation of our sister church team. About the only research my wife did was to Google “Shivworks Sucks” and nothing came up. In fact, the reviews for Shivworks were glowing.

It looks innocentenough, but itsa kill box.

Having been through some bad training and interactions with some careered but very bad instructors, Craig Douglas was refreshing. He made a point to quickly learn everyone’s name, understand our background, and personally thank everyone for spending their hard earned money on his class - he may be one of the most polite tactical trainers I have found. Yes, of course during the training we all did some rather stupid things and you could see he wanted to blurt out pointed obscenity laced character references, but he didn’t and repositioned the teaching moment into something valuable. Craig Douglas is one of the good instructors who will be patient with you as you learn.

ABOUT SHIVWORKS

Craig Douglas is the founder and lead trainer of ShivWorks. Craig’s background is military, a highly trained martial artist, law enforcement, plus a career with SWAT and NARC unit experience. 'Generally I have found that the narcotics unit LEO guys have seen and done some shit that military guys will never get exposed to and if they have a lifetime of structure breaches like Craig that obviously adds up to a lot of experience. Craig took that experience and developed a number of ShivWorks courses including AMIS to address how to respond when you do not have five other armed and armored up guys right behind you entering a room, securing a vehicle, or dealing one-on-one with combatants. In the case of this ShivWorks AMIS Amed Movement in Structures course, the concept was to provide training on how to move alone through a structure in a hostile situation and get shot less - Craig’s caveat was that “it is a bad idea to clear a room alone unless you really have to, but this is the training how to do it and potentially survive.”

AIRSOFT EQUIPMENT

Yeah! Airsoft hurts!

When I heard that the ShivWorks AMIS course was based on airsoft pistols, I felt my eyes roll. Ohhh those are the toy guns kids play in the park with, right? Well I can say after bleeding from getting hit in the face just below my mask with one of the “toy gun” plastic BBs and seeing them embedded into molding, they are not toys. They are harsh incentives to do everything you can to not get shot. The course organizer recommended any reliable high quality green gas powered 6mm airsoft pistol. After a bunch of research I choose two heavily recommended Umarex Walther PPQ M2 (model 2272800) pistols which are perfect replicants of my real PPQ M2 9mm.

The pistols are available in LEO trainer blue, black and pinkish red. Another reason I did this was because Walther and Umarex are the same company so they offer the PPQ M2 in .40, 9mm, .22LR, .177 Pellet and airsoft versions which offers delivers several low cost training options.

Yeah! Airsoft hurtsdrywall too.

There is a lot to be said for the concept of doing all your shooting with the same gun with all of these caliber options. Of course Umarex offers the various grades of airsoft pistols for popular H&K, Walther, and Beretta pistols so there is good chance you can find something that will work for your training.

Of note there are many tiers of quality in airsoft ranging from $25 spring powered modes, to electric, CO2 cartridge, and green gas powered models. The later CO2 and green gas models are considered the top tier for handguns.

PPQ M2 Airsoft

PPQ M2 LEO BlueAirsoft Trainer

CO2 delivers more velocity but green gas is more economical and far simpler to deal with. Green gas models essentially fill like a butane lighter from a WD-40 sized gas can. Shooters get about two or three magazine reloads out of each refill and I figured about 1000 rounds per refill can. Its pretty economical. I found the big plus was that although the green gas magazines are quite expensive (around $45) they are self contained gas reservoirs and BB magazines so when you slip in a new mag, you have a fresh charge of gas and fresh supply of ammo. With CO2 you would need to stop and swap out the CO2 powerlets.

A real PPQ M2 9mm

For the record, you really do get what you pay for with airsoft trainers and quality training quality airsoft guns are not cheap. The really good ones like the PPQ M2 green gas models start around $120 and go up from there. One guy was running a custom $700 1911 airsoft gun that accepted real 1911 parts - the quality was amazing. We all ran these guns really hard and close to an abusive level… and we all did see failures at some point, however the higher quality pistol were more reliable by a wide margin. People tend to get a little irritated when you have to reset the run for the third time because of a malfunction.

RZ Mesh Dust MaskPyramex I-Force Goggles

My problems were solely limited to forgetting to gas up the mags after multiple reloads and due to the abuse on the guns, I briefly lost a non-critical takedown pin but found it and was back in action. If you are going to do serious training then spend the money on a really good airsoft trainer.

A standard airsoft mask, thin polar fleece or hoodie, thin skull cap, premium “match” .26g airsoft BBs all make the shooting more enjoyable, reliable and accurate. I wore a the very comfortable and high visibility RZ Mesh dust mask and Pyramex I-Force goggles since these have more utility than an airsoft mask. It worked perfect. My PPQ M2 was tucked into the same Klinger holster I use for my PPQ M2 9mm.

THE AMIS ARMED MOVEMENT IN STRUCTURE COURSE

The course was broken into the science and geometry of room clearing, walk through of the three sets of rooms we used for training, simple four man hide one man seek without guns to identify who sees who first, the same drill with unloaded airsoft guns to understand who “could have” taken a shot first, a repeat with live airsoft guns, and then starting after sunset we did the whole drill in the dark. Most of us were able to run each drill set at least four times and well all died… a lot.

The idea through each run was to work on the room clearing geometry Craig had just taught, however most of us including me decided we knew better on our first and second run and were slaughtered. It was clear that Craig had had a lot of experience with building entry and movement and has thought long and hard about the methods. What Craig does teach you is that there are many right ways for example to clear around blind 180 room partition, but there are a lot of really horrible ideas as well and any of the good or bad concepts might get you killed. His teaching style was to try them all and see what happens… “Every room, building, shooter, and situation are different. You may do a quick peek, slice the pie, or fast dynamic entry. The key is to commit and take action decisively.” noted Craig.

There are those trainings which you seem to get better as the course goes on and those which you get your brain’s butt kicked from the start to the and of the class - the ShivWorks AMIS course is the later. I have never made so many stupid mistakes so fast in my life. Armed entry of a potentially hostile room is an opportunity to make 1000 decisions and none of them are good and most of them horrifically stupid. The class will have me questioning my decisions in that training for many months.

AMIS is an outstanding ego clearing, adrenaline fed, heart racing course which leaves you with a lot to think about mentally and a ton to work on from a mental and physical discipline perspective. Just to name a few stupid mistakes, during the training one guy in our group muzzled a cop entering the scene, I “raced to die” going too fast and seeing too little, muzzle swept innocents, left spaces unchecked, saw and recognized threats I did not address, was indecisive, uncommitted in some actions, was a bumbling idiot in the dark, and fingered the trigger… ahh yes “I should have shot Rob”.

I SHOULD HAVE SHOT ROB

Craig set up a final individual challenge which everyone walking out noting “I have a lot to work on”. Without giving up too much the scenario, the concept was that you were at home alone with a child and hear a very loud noise knowing that your nephew had been asleep for many hours. I breached the door well, cleared the first room, but then I ran into Rob as a bad guy.

Just entering a room an minding yourown business...

On a side note, during the training Rob was an unwilling, non-complying pain in the ass throughout the training runs. If you told him to put his hands up he would give you the finger and quickly duck around a corner, he would not comply with verbal commands to make it more realistic.

Then this happens.

Though Rob was actually a really great guy who was helpful, and always there to help before and after each run, during the runs however you really wanted to shot him in the crotch.. twice. So there I was faced with Rob who was being the same unwilling pain in the ass he was before, I could see he was armed, was not complying to verbal commands but I at least got him on the floor before I heard screaming for the other room. It felt like I spent a hour screwing around with non-compliant Rob. Craig notes that everyone you encounter should be classified as “don’t shoot yet”. Rob should have been shot when I saw the gun.

My new shoot or no shoot formula thanks to Rob - If any two answers are yes lead flies.

Wrong Person wrong place?

Non-compliant (in any way)?

Are they armed?

Back to the final course...just like all but one other person, I left Rob to address the more pressing events and leaving Rob bit me in the butt. Everything in me told me I should shoot him and in fact Rob noted I had my finger on the trigger. My response was “Yeah I was just going to shoot you since you were armed and non compliant”.

Psychologically it would seem that guys do this thing where we get into this nice guy “he is not attacking me yet mode” or we size up someone and overestimate our ability to manage/fight-and-win a person. Though well without my rights to legally shot Rob in the scenario, I did not because I felt I had an overwhelming defensive advantage, but the moment I turned my back he started shooting. I did eventually shoot him and killed the other bad dude, wounded the hostage, and I took two shots in the arm in the process with around twenty something rounds fired just by me - not a proud run at all. For the last week my wife cracks up that I keep mumbling “I should have shot Rob.” If I had, I would not have been shot and there would have been a lot hard plastic airsoft balls flying around the room which would have put everyone in danger in a real situation.

Conforming to the geometry.

Interestingly my wife, the only female in the class, was scary decisive. She cleared the room well and pretty much shot Rob as he aggressively turned toward her and she saw a weapon. Just bang.. right in the naked uncovered throat and then killed the other bad guy and saved the hostage. Only three shots fired, she was not hit and was noted as the most decisive action of everyone in the class. I asked her why? Her response was that as a woman, “We see everyone, especially men, as a potential threat. Not that we are necessarily weaker, but even at my height of 6’-1”, I am not going to take on the 225-lb 6’-something armed Rob, I need to act quickly when a threat is realized.” A couple of the guys called it the mama bear instinct. I think it is something else. Woman do not have the good guy syndrome nor the macho I can take him mentality, so they gain decisive seconds responding to a threat. She saw the same thing I did, she just responded more decisively. It was an interesting psychological experiment to say the least.

FINAL THOUGHTS

At this point I have been through a lot of training that adds up to around 500 hours. The NRA taught me safety, many other classes taught me accuracy, speed and force/tactical aggression gunning tactics, the Israelis taught me how to run a gun hard and deliver a high level of force aggression in a gunfight, and ITI trained me on vehicle based tactics and driving. I would rank ShivWorks AMIS extremely high in my training with probably the best instructor I have had yet. If I was staging a training order for a new shooter the order would be a safety course, your CCW class, a run the gun course, then the AMIS class before any others. I can now understand why over half the class was filled with people who traveled from all over the US just to attend the class.

The AMIS training was a notable gap for me in my training. The Israelis did some training on Armed Movement, however not to this degree and they are extremely tactically aggressive with very high rates of fire when entering rooms.

There were a couple limited situations on runs where that method paid off and I was able to push opponents into a corner with a high rate of fire, but patiently clearing a room was new for me. In fact as a high strung impatient person with a lot of run and gun experience it was a brutally painful for me. Craig kept telling me to “stop 3-Gunning it” and slow way down and see everything before moving to the next area that could kill you. It was was really, really… really hard to go that slow, but I went from die-ing all the time to a least a couple clean runs.

Would I recommend this course? Yes… yes and yes again. There are more than a couple occurrences during your training which you will look back on and say “that piece right there could save my life.”

Thursday, February 16, 2017

When the initial reviews of the Ruger Precision Rifle came out, I was skeptical about the gloriously rosey review noting groundbreaking features... it just screamed to me that someone was all too happy to whip out knee pads and a bib to be one of the first to review Ruger's latest, so I waited a until now for my full review.

Initially my eyes rolled hard with the thought that Ruger had just dropped their standard Mauser influenced action into a billet chassis and that did not sound particularly groundbreaking - I was of course wrong on that point.

Another part of that reluctance was that everyone was espousing the precision greatness of the Ruger Precision Rifle in the 6.5 Creedmore round. Sure the 6.5 CM has been around, however the round itself was developed and is known for insane levels precision so I was skeptical that maybe all the glowing remarks would not carry over into a more traditional round such as the .308.

Not seeing a single .308 review of the rifle, I considered it my duty to get one ordered. Then the rifle arrived and my first words at my FFL dealer were "Damn, Ruger nailed it on this rifle". The only other rifle which impressed me as much out of the box from an innovation, engineering and quality was the groundbreaking Tavor design. Out of the box quality is similar to my FN SPR A3G. This new Ruger rifles was nothing like any Ruger I had seen before.

As much as I hate to agree with some noted writers who love everything, I will make the statement that the Ruger Precision Rifle is competition killer in the precision rifle market. After seeing, handling, shooting and testing this rifle, I have to ask myself why would I buy anything else if my end game was a precision rifle platform. The Ruger Precision Rifle delivers it all in one package... and not just another package you need to upgrade later, but one which is arguably as good or better than anything available aftermarket right out of the box.

If I peer into my stable of precision rifles, I think of how the Howa 1500 series began to turn the heads of hardcore Remington 700 shooters. I have a factory barrel Howa .308 which can shoot sub-½” groups all day long with the right ammo, but I now have the action nestled into a XLR billet chassis and have upgraded to a Timney trigger. I have done the same to several Remington SPS 700s as well and the net result is dropping about $1200-$1500 on a upgrades to make it as good as the Ruger Precision Rifle is right out of the box.

Precision rifles generally start in the $2000+ range with my FN SPR A3G being a great example which is still less than any of the custom shop options. So most people plan to build a precision rifle from a Remington or Savage action knowing that in the end the receiver may be the only remaining stock part left on the gun. Around $600-$700 is spent on a base rifle, then the upgrades start with a $250 trigger, $1000 stock with box fed magazine capability, and $500 in action tuning and barrel re-crowning. A match barrel swap may also be done if the factory barrel is not delivering on expectations which starts around $500 including install. It does not stop there. Other must have accessories include an extended bolt handle conversion ($100-$150) and a 20 MOA scope base ($100) to give you more adjustment for longer shots. In the end, that $600 Remington 700 ends up being a $2700-$3200 rifle pretty easily and looking back the off the shelf options actually start looking like great deals.

Remington has a similar offering as does Howa, but Ruger has joined the party with this rifle and is fundamentally changing the entire price structure of the market with everything noted above included right down to the match barrel for a stated $1399 MSRP. It is without question the best deal on the market and has been designed to be easy to upgrade should the desire strike you.

Like many of the newer high accuracy Ruger rifles, the RPR (Ruger Precision Rifle) is made on the new high tech machining capabilities and you can tell. The fit all round on the rifle is extremely well made. Out of the box the Ruger RPR delivers everything a precision shooter would want including a really nice precision action, arguably one of the most accurate factory barrels available, a threaded suppressor ready barrel, a fully adjustable precision rifle stock with folding adapter included, an AICS and Magpul compatible magazine well, and a really incredible trigger that is people get into arguments about whether it is worth upgrading. It is all there in the box for a $1300 MSRP complete with your choice of .243, .308, 6.5 Creedmoor, and 6mm Creedmoor caliber options.

At this point I have had time behind all the calibers with the exception of the new 6mm Creedmoor version and all are outstanding shooting guns that will all deliver sub-MOA groups. At least with the samples I shot, the Creedmoor and .308 chamberings seemed to be the most accurate, however every gun is different and the .243 was still easily a sub-MOA gun. The geometry was well thought out on the stock and recoil was extremely forgiving once the stock was tuned and fit to me. With LR Magpul magazines, the RPR even delivers a last round hold open so you know when you gun is empty during a spirited competition. The selector is a fast 45-degree AR15 style which is notably quicker than other safety styles, the handguards are beautiful Samson Evolution handguards and can be swapped with any AR15 compatible handguard. The bolt disassembly tool is stored in a small compartment at the and of the bolt, and the scope base included is 20-MOA - all nice touches and upgrades for any shooter.

FINAL THOUGHTS

The total Ruger Precision Rifle package adds up to a gun which shoots extremely well, is stunningly accurate for the price and is loaded with pretty much everything you could want in a precision rifle for far less than any other offering on the market. Ruger… simply amazing gun for the price… now where is my .223 and 10/22 variants?

Wednesday, February 15, 2017

At one point I though “body armor was body armor” as long as it could stop a bullet, but that was before I started to understand the balancing act every body armor manufacturer makes between features, performance, weight, stopping ability, multiple hit failure point, and thickness. With everything from Kevlar, to Spectra, AR500 steel plates, polymers and other materials used for body armor there is a huge difference from one body armor to another.

There are a lot of people who still believe that you must to up to no good if you are a non-LEO person on US streets with armor, but that mindset is changing quickly. That is simply not the case and I am glad that the acceptance of body armor is gaining popularity for kids backpacks and as a protection option for those armed. Europe overall is way ahead of the US on this concept simply because many people are unable to have guns so they at least protect themselves with armor. Body armor is become popular beyond the people we would typically identify as “the fringe”. Heck Amazon now has level III body armor inserts for kids backpacks. Despite the past politicians wanting us to be left totally defenseless, many people are now adding some type of body armor to their home defense toolset or daily CCW packs.

There is a perception that level III and IIIa armor lines are getting pretty inexpensive, however there is a lot that is not listed in the specs most notable is that most of that really inexpensive armor may only be single round rated, but not multi-round rated. Nothing comes for free and everything's a compromise with body armor… unless you are willing to spend the money for higher tier body armor. The DKX M3 Level MAX III Lightweight Armor is what I would term as mid-tech. It delivers everything to super expensive armor does in terms of weight and stopping power, but only at the expense of thickness. DKX of course has other options including ceramic based armor, but the focus of this article is around their more affordable NIJ Level III+ rifle rated M3 plates.

ABOUT DKX

DKX is one of the companies which is well known and preferred by CIA, Secret Service, professional protection, and covert military operations. DKX offers a broad range of armor from soft, to hard, to rigid armor such as the DKX Level MAX III Lightweight Armor. DKX has also worked directly with the Secret Service on the development of a briefcase disguised instantly deployable body armor. The company and owner also have a very long pedigree within armor dating back several decades.

THE DKX M3 LEVEL MAX III LIGHTWEIGHT ARMOR

The DKX Level MAX III Lightweight Armor is specifically designed to stop up to 7.62x39 Mild Steel Core AK-47 and 7.62mm x 51mm 147gr M80 FMJ rifle rounds which is quite feat considering the hard hitting AK47 round is a well know defeater of most body armor. According to DKX, “The prevalence of heavy steel hard plate armor has seen a huge growth over the last couple years, however we had a lot of professionals asking for a similar performing body armor but that was significantly lighter. The result of our development is the MAX III body armor line.” Similar performance would typically come at the cost of significantly heavier weight. Most rifle round rated plates designed to stop the same rounds would weigh in at 8-9lbs each, so if you have a carrier with front and back plates the shooter is carrying around 18lbs of rifle armor. With the DKX M3 Level MAX III Lightweight Armor the same protection would only be under 5 lbs which is a huge weight savings.

The DKX M3 Level MAX III Lightweight Armor plates delivers a light 20 oz rigid armor plate (weight dependent on size and shape) which is multi-hit rated for the 7.62x39 round. The sacrifice in this case is that the plate is about 1.5” thick. The M3 is a fat plate. The benefit of the thicker plate is that it dispurses a significant amount of energy over almost the entire plate which makes getting shot a lot less painful for the person wearing the armor so technically you do not need a trauma pad like you would with a steel plate.

DKX utilizes a proprietary polymer blend for the armor which uniquely makes it buoyant. If you manage to fall into a river like one of the LEO customers who is wearing DKX armor, then you will float instead of drown with 20 lbs of steel strapped to you. All of the DKX M3 Level MAX III Lightweight Armor models have a comfort curve to them so that whether they on a carrier or backpack, they will ride more comfortably.

Currently DKX offers the Level MAX III Lightweight Armor in several sizes and configurations. I tested and carried both the shooter cut and square 10”x12” plates in my small 5.11 and Drago packs. In fact the shooter cut plate fits into the extremely small sub-$50 Drago Sentry Ipad pack and still provides enough room for a blow out kit and other first responder supplies. I am part of a megachurch armed security team and have carried this DMX M3 equipped Drago Sentry pack for almost a year at this point and it is a freaking delight to carry. My total pack loaded with DKX M3 armor, ammo, and med kit is just 3lbs which delivers a huge advantage should the need arise. The sling based pack design of the Drago pack allows a left hand pack carry which does not interfere with my right hand firearm carry and allows me to slip the pack to a center of chest position for front plate protection. I have trained with the kit and it works wonderfully. I used the second square 10”x12” plate in my larger 5.11 Moab Rush Sling pack to deliver the same protection and enough room for a short AR15 pistol.

I am not the writer who is going to take out $1200 worth of body armor and shoot into it just to prove what the manufacturer has already videoed and been officially NIJ certified. I am the writer who will tell you that carrying around a 10-lb steel body armor plate is a freaking backbreaker for humping daily in a low risk common everyday CCW back pack that already has 3-4lbs of crap in it. Carrying a 20 oz DKX Level MAX III Lightweight Armor is far more preferable from my perspective. Sure a $100 steel plate will also stop an AK round but my bet is that you will stop carrying that 9-lb plate after a week. The DKX Level MAX III Lightweight Armor on the other hand weighs about the same as a 20 oz Coke and … Ya know it can stop up to a 7.62x39 round which for me is a doable addition to my daily CCW carry pack. Notably the DKX M3 Level MAX III Lightweight Armor plates are not cheap, they are a higher tier mid-tech plate which is an investment in your back and life. The money is well spent for those that need to have a lighter weight options.

FINAL THOUGHTS

In the US, we tend to forget that according to FBI criminal mass shooting studies, most people involved in a shooting get shot and even lowed threat rated armor would stop many fatalities. My nightmare and fear which is shared by many of our church security team is that someone will come in with a rifle. As the security team we are likely to be the first targets either from being identified as security or through engaging the attacker. At that point, everyone who thought I was a little nuts carrying a plated equipped pack will not think I am so nuts any more… but that will be a little late as bullets start ripping through the building and bodies.

My perspective is that a very small thin Drago or 5.11 pack is unobtrusive and goes unnoticed in daily life especially with my John 3:16 patch. Isn’t it smart to have one of these packs available with a blow-out kit to address wounds and a body armor plate than can handle more than just one hit or even rifle rounds?

SPECS DKX M3 ARMOR RIFLE PLATE

The DKX M3 Series ballistic plates are NIJ 0101.06 level III certified stand-alone. The M3 also stops special, non-armor piercing threats, such as the Winchester Ranger and 7.62x39 MSC. The positive buoyancy of the M3 plates provides users in waterborne or maritime environments added support and flotation, while a rigid polycarbonate backing gives superior blunt force trauma protection. Each DKX M3 Series plate comes equipped with Radio Frequency Embedded Verification (RFEV) tracking for inventory management along with an industry first 7 year warranty. Applies only to certified plate sizes.